On the Trail
by sarcasmcocktail
Summary: Rory's on the campaign trail starting her life as a reporter. At one of the stops on the trail, Rory isn't sure what city she is in until she hears a familiar voice behind her. Suddenly, her life is upside down again.


**Disclaimer: **Don't own anything.

**Background: **Everything on the show happened and this takes place after the series finale

**AN:** I'm back to being really into fan fiction again and even though it's early in the summer, I think this hobby is going to stick around for a while again. I'm actually starting two stories right now both with the same background. This one is because of how upset I was during 7.21 when Logan walked away.

**On the Trail**

It had been almost three weeks since Rory got on the plane headed for Iowa and it had been an amazing experience unlike anything she had done before. From the first day she was on a bus with other small time reporters from local newspapers and other internet sites. Many of them had dreams like hers of being foreign correspondents or writing syndicated works for the Associated Press that would show up in all of the big papers: _The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe_. Many of the other reporters were older than Rory and were more than a few weeks out of college. Being in such close quarters all the time pushed the reporters into forming friendships. Though nothing was like the friendships Rory had with her mother, or Lane, or Paris, she had become pretty close to one reporter named Sam, short for Samantha. Sam was twenty five and worked for a top political blog that got thousands of hits per hour.

Rory and Sam were both exhausted after three weeks of following Senator Obama all over the country. Neither were quite sure what city they were leaving and what city they would be arriving in next. Everything was routine: get off the bus, go to a press conference, watch the presidential candidate speak, ask questions, write an article, sleep, back on the bus, travel, and repeat. In twenty one days, they had been in about twelve cities all over the country. Both had written articles about each stop that were published on their respective websites. Rory would often ask Sam's advice because she had never written for a website before but everything was the same as writing for a paper. Sam, and many of the others were impressed with Rory's resume, being editor of the _Yale Daily News_ made her someone that others asked for advice.

"So how is everything at home," Rory asked her mother that morning.

"Not the same without you. Hey, do you remember that boat trip that Luke was going to take April on?"

"The one where you made him book hotels so that April could see everything, but then she cancelled to go to science camp."

"Well, I'm going with him."

"Mom, you hate the outdoors and he only booked a few nights of hotels."

"I'll be alone with Luke for weeks; things are going to finally get better. He's going to let me into his life again. We're going to make things work."

"What about Paul Anka?"

"Babette's going to take care of him. You know how she is with animals. She misses you by the way. So does everyone else."

"I miss you all too."

Everyone was piling onto the bus to get to the convention center of whatever city they were in that day so Rory said goodbye to her mother and followed the crowd. Rory was too exhausted to even look at the signs around her; she almost fell asleep during the ten minute drive from the hotel to the convention center right down the road. She had spoken to Senator Obama a few times and grew to respect him more and more, but as she grew more exhausted by the day, she tried to stay away from him more and more.

Rory followed the rest of the reporters into the press box and they were joined by some people from the Associated Press and the local newspapers. She could never see who was behind her, but hear their voices. The Senator spoke about different issues dependent on the cities; he was an excellent politician.

"What are you going to do to make the federal government more accepting of the internet revolution," Rory heard coming from behind her.

The voice sounded so familiar, but she couldn't bring herself to turn around. It couldn't be who she thought it was. There was no way he would be to watch Barack Obama speak. Rory made a pro/con list in her head about what would happen if she turned around and saw him. Would all of these weeks of missing him make her do something that she would regret? Would he even want to talk to her?

By the time Rory finally had the courage to look behind her, the crowd had started to disperse. She looked at each one of the people to try and find that one familiar face, but he must have left…" if it was him at all. Rory turned to Sam and asked her if she knew what city they were in.

"San Francisco, why?"

Rory realized the mistake she made in not turning around. She wanted to find him and see him again. It had been almost a month since he walked away from her…since she realized that she wasn't going to see him again. Was it a mistake? Should she have said yes? Then Rory realized that if she said yes then she wouldn't have this job; she wouldn't be gaining the life experience that would help her. It just wasn't supposed to hurt this much. Rory had broken up with boyfriends before, but she ran away so soon that she thought she could make it not hurt.

Sam noticed tears forming in her new friend's eyes. There was something going on that Rory wasn't sharing and she was going to find out just what that was.

"What's wrong, Rory?"

"He was here. He asked a question. I know it was him."

"Who?"

"Him."

Sam was puzzled. She and Rory had shared a lot about themselves in the past few weeks, but nothing as personal as a boy from Rory's past. It was obvious that there was someone she missed, but Sam always assumed that it was just her mother and the crazy people from Stars Hollow that Rory had tons of stories about.

"You're going to have to tell me more than that, Rory."

"I can't. I have to find him. I miss him."

Rory pulled out her phone and scrolled down to his name. She knew he wouldn't answer the phone if she tried to call; one night when all of the reporters had a night off, they stopped in a bar and in her drunken state, Rory called him. There was no response. She left a message that she loved him and missed him and that she was sorry that she didn't marry him. It was the first time she'd ever called him while rambling drunkenly.

Rory ran away from the group with her press badge still on, not that she cared. She searched through the crowds of people for that blonde hair that she knew so well. She wanted to yell out his name, but he wouldn't hear her – he probably wouldn't turn around if he did.

Sam came running after her, trying to find out who she was looking for or what was going on. Rory shared so much information, but Sam was realizing that something huge happened to Rory and something was in San Francisco with them…or someone. When she finally found Rory, she was standing still with her blue eyes focused on a man in the distance. He looked back at her; they both had looks of longing. Sam tried to talk to Rory, but got no response; every part of her was fixated on that man.

Suddenly, the blonde was making his way through the crowd towards Rory and her body started shaking. She didn't know what she would say to him when she finally came face to face with him. It was like all of those years ago when Jess turned up in Stars Hollow; she wondered what she would say to him, even though she didn't expect the "I love you" out of his mouth. This was different. They'd already said "I love you" and he'd already proposed. The ring was beautiful and she wanted nothing more than to take it, but she wasn't ready to pick up and leave. Rory had needed to figure out her own life.

"What are you doing in California," he said dryly.

"I'm a reporter for a small internet site following Barack Obama on the campaign trail."

"So you found a job."

"I found a job."

They looked at each other, their eyes fixed on each other.

"Logan…I'm…"

But before she could get the rest of the sentence out, she heard someone behind her saying that she needed to go. Rory and Logan parted ways again, but this time she wanted to make sure she would see him again.

Logan couldn't believe that Rory had turned up in San Francisco. When his company asked him to go to Obama's speech, he was reluctant. He never cared too much for politics; it made him think of the life that his father had created for him. Something made him go though…well, something other than his boss. He was doing well for himself in the first month in California…everything was perfect…except he missed her.

Rory had been on Logan's mind nonstop since he walked away from her at her graduation. It hurt him that she didn't love him enough to marry him. He didn't think he was asking much…he loved her more than anything in the world. Since he had been with her, Logan had changed so much about himself. Logan Huntzberger had gone from someone who cared about himself and seeing which girl he could get every night to a man in a serious relationship with the most amazing woman he had ever met.

Logan had turned down many drunk girls at bars because no matter what he thought of Rory. Even a one night stand wasn't enough to get his mind off of her. He wanted her back so much, but he hadn't been able to call her. When he received that drunk dial, he wanted to call her back, but he didn't think she'd remember.

That last sentence she was saying before walking away…"Logan…I…" Logan kept thinking to himself…_you what?!_ Was she sorry? Did she want to be with him? If he hadn't been thinking about her enough already, this just made it worse.


End file.
